Homehttps://server7.kproxy.com/servlet/redirect.srv/sruj/smyrwpoii/p2/Healthhttps://server7.kproxy.com/servlet/redirect.srv/sruj/smyrwpoii/p2/Brain zaps increase memory in people over 60 years of age, research finds

Brain zaps increase memory in people over 60 years of age, research finds

New York • An overlay of the brain of people over 60 years of age with an electric shock has improved the shape of the memory, sufficient to perform it like people aged 20, [19659002] Everybody could visit clinics to increase this ability, which decreases both in normal aging and in dementia, such as Alzheimer's disease, said researcher Robert Reinhart of Boston University

Treatment is aimed at "working memory" , "the ability to store information in mind for seconds when you wake." nuyete tasks, such as doing the math in your head. Sometimes it's called a workplace or a violin of mind, it's very important for things like taking medication, paying bills, buying products, or planning, "Reinhart said.

"This is where your consciousness lives … where you are working on information"

The new study is not the first to show that stimulation of the brain can enhance working memory. But Reinhart, who reported on this work on Monday in the journal Nature Neuroscience, said that this is noticeable for the success of the elderly, and because memory acceleration lasts almost an hour after the end of brain stimulation

One scientist, who had previously reported on the upgrading of the Workstation with electrostimulation, noted that reducing this ability in normal aging is not huge. But "they have removed the effects of age from these people," said Dr. Barry Gordon, professor of neurology and cognitive science at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore.

"This is a wonderful first step" to demonstrate a pathway for improving mental performance, said Gordon, who did not participate in the new study.

Reinhart agreed that additional research was needed before they could be officially tested as a treatment.

An electrical current was introduced through a tight lid, which also controlled the brain of each sub. For the participants of the study, this current felt a slight tingling, itching, or feeling under the electrodes within 30 seconds, said Reinhart. After that the skin became accustomed to the current and it was invisible.

The idea behind the researchers was to improve the bond between the prefrontal cortex of the brain in the anterior and temporal cortex on the left, since the rhythms of activity in the two areas were not synchronized with each other.

Thus, the researchers applied a current to these two areas to push the activity cycles back into the corresponding picture.

Part of the study included 42 participants in their 20 years, plus 42 others aged 60 to 76 years. First, they were tested on a measure of work memory. This involved viewing an image such as a harmonica or a broken egg on a computer screen, then a blank screen for three seconds, and then a second image that was either identical to the first one or slightly modified. Subjects were to judge whether it was the same image or not.

When stimulating the figure, the older group was less accurate than the younger participants. But during and after 25 minutes of real brain stimulation, they also did. The improvement lasted at least another 50 minutes after the end of the stimulation, after which the researchers stopped testing. It's not clear how long it went beyond that, Reinhard said, but previous studies suggest that stimulation can last for about ninety hours or more after stimulation.

The researchers got the same result in the second group of 28 people over 62 years old. 1